Half Life Opposing Force: The Continuation
by Adrian Shepherd
Summary: This story begins where Half Life: Opposing Force left off. It tells the story of Corporal Adrian Shepherd's life after Gman decided to "preserve" him. Enjoy! NOTE: This story contains a character from the youtube series Shepherd's Mind by KrimsinYT.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A New Mission

Corporal Adrian Shepherd of the 23rd Marine division was one of the few who had survived the Black Mesa Incident. He had fought tooth and nail against every alien and black ops agent they could throw at him. He had defeated a 25 foot tall alien squid monster. And, as he reflected, he might as well not have. Thinking back, he could still remember the man with the briefcase's last words….. _My….. Employers have decided to; if not anything else, preserve you for the time being. You will be kept in a place where you can do no harm and no harm can come to you._

That had been the last time he had seen the man. Who he was and who his employers were…. It did not bear thinking about. After that, the osprey he was in had simply taken him far out into the desert to a massive house. There, he had everything he wanted; good food, soft beds, TV and internet. But every time he got it into his head that he would leave, something seemed to hold him back. Still, he wouldn't be one to complain. Life was good for now. But he had a sinking feeling that this current peace was not to last. He was right. As he was eating his breakfast a few days after his arrival (the food and drinks never seemed to disappear) the news was reporting sightings of strange creatures all across the world. Within the week, the combine had arrived and had conquered the planet. Adrian had tried to leave then, but, as always, he was unable to.

Then, one day some weeks later, he found a letter on the kitchen table. The letter was short and to the point. _Corporal Shepherd. My employers have found a use for you. Be prepared to leave tomorrow morning. I am not offering you a choice. You will come or there will be… rather dire consequences. _As he finished reading the last words, Adrian felt a surge of excitement. At last, he would be able to leave. But where would he be going? Adrian tried to blot that out of his mind. Wherever he was going, he knew that it wasn't going to be pretty.The thought that the combine now ruled most of the earth filled him with dread. The next morning, he came downstairs to find his combat gear and weapons at the table. There was a note. _We leave at 0900 hours. Be ready. _

At 9:00 precisely, Adrian walked out into the yard. An Osprey was waiting in the yard. As he climbed aboard, he was amazed to find two other people on board as well. He immediately recognized both of them. There was Jack, an engineer from his platoon and Lydia, a black ops agent who he had spared in black mesa. "Adrian!" said Jack with obvious surprise and joy. "You made it out! Frankly, I'm amazed!" Lydia also looked surprised. "Ah, corporal. We meet again." She said. "Jack, Lydia!" exclaimed Adrian. "It's good to see you. I'm happy you managed to make it out." Jack smiled. "Yeah, well they would have had to send ten times as many aliens if they wanted me to give up."

Jack then cast a suspicious glance at Lydia. "So, why do you know a black ops agent?" Adrian looked at Lydia. "She was the only black ops agent I didn't kill." He said. "She told me where the exit was and then asked me to knock her out." Jack stared at Adrian. "What, you spared her? She could have killed you easily!" "I didn't have any bullets left, for your information." Lydia retorted. "Besides, I just saw half a dozen of my fellow agents get mown down by one man. Do you really think I would have tried to kill him when 6 highly trained agents as well as dozens of others couldn't?" Jack shrugged.

Suddenly, a bright green flash emanated from the door to the cockpit. As their vision cleared, they saw the man with the briefcase standing in their midst. "I see you are all…. Ac-c-counted for." He said in his halting voice. "No sense in wasting time. You have a new mission…"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Covert Ops

"What sort of mission?" asked Jack. The man with the briefcase looked him in the eye. "Your mission….. is to bring down the combine citadel inside of Washington D.C." Jack and Adrian were shocked. "Are you kidding me?" Shouted Adrian. "How are we supposed to take down their citadel? That one is holds thousands of combine and it's 6000 feet tall!" The man's face creased into a kind of gruesome smile. "That, Corporal Shepherd, is for you and your…..friends….. to figure out on your own." With that, he turned and walked through the door and into an awaiting portal.

Jack and Adrian were stumped. _How are we supposed to take the citadel down on our own? _They thought. Lydia, however, looked more at ease. "No need to get overly excited, boys." she said, the confidence forming a tangible edge on her statement. "YOU seem awfully calm." muttered Jack. "Done this kind of thing before, have you?" Lydia smirked. "In a sense, yes." she said. "We need to remember our stealth training. You two WERE trained in covert ops, right?" Adrian shifted. "Yeah, but I've never been on a stealth mission before. The only kind of missions that I've been on were normal go in, get it, and get out." "That is not a problem." Said Lydia. "If you stick to the basics and follow my lead, everything will be fine."

After a journey or several hours, the osprey landed in a clearing just outside of the city limits. "Well, how are we going to get inside the city?" asked jack. This was a good question. The only ways into the city was through the rivers or they could enter on a train. "They treat anyone coming in through the rivers as hostiles, so the safest way would be to enter on a train." Said Lydia. Jack looked annoyed. "Great idea Lydia. Now how do you propose we get on a train? The nearest station is 40 miles away." Lydia's face broke into a grin. "Just follow me." They followed her as she climed up a set of rail lights. At that moment, the loud horn of a train sounded. "Get ready!" shouted Lydia. The train came into view as they were positioning themselves on the lights. As it went under them, Lydia gave the signal. They dropped onto the train, rolling as they did so to lessen the force of the impact. From there, Lydia directed them into a hole in the roof of one of the train cars.

As luck would have it, that car was transporting combine uniforms. They quickly found a uniform that fitted them and slipped into it. "Hey, Adrian!" shouted Jack. "Is your radio working?" Adrian checked his uniform's communication systems. "Roger that, good buddy." "Cut the chatter and lets see which stop we should get off at." Said Lydia. They moved up toward the front of the train. As Lydia opened the door to the train, Adrian quickly pulled her back. "What, what?" whispered Lydia. "Two tangos up ahead." whispered Adrian. Lydia peered through a slit in the door. Two combine soldiers were standing by the train's control panel. "Damn." muttered Lydia. "Get ready to engage on my mark. 3…2….1…. mark!" Adrian kicked down the door while Jack and Lydia opened fire. The soldiers were dispatched quickly.

"Alright." said Jack. "Give a minute and I'll find out where we stop." As Jack worked on the control panel, Adrian explored the rest of the train. His search was rewarded by a large amount of information pertaining to the critical workings of the citadel. His coms buzzed in his ear. "Hey Adrian!" Jack said into the radio. "We need you back up here. We are getting off at the next stop." Adrian made his way back towards the front of the train. Upon reaching it, he shared his findings with Jack and Lydia. "Well done, Corporal. This will help our mission enormously." "Thanks Lydia." said Adrian. Suddenly, there was an abrupt rumble. "Whoa…. What the hell was that?" Jack said. There was another rumble, and another. The rumbles were intensifying. "Shit! Earthquake?" shouted Jacked. "Duck and cover!" yelled Adrian. Just as they did so, there was a massive explosion, and the train careened off the tracks. Adrian smacked his head, and the world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Resistance

There was a ringing in his head. A strange buzzing feeling engulfed his entire body. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was lying on a bed inside a small room. The room was devoid of furniture except for a couch and small bedside table. As Adrian tried to sit up, a stab of pain coursed through his upper body. He gasped and fell back, panting. Slowly, his thoughts cleared and a pang of dread filled him. _What if I've been captured? And even worse, what if I am the only one who survived the crash?_

He was drawn back to himself by the sound of the door opening, and a man walked into the room. He wore a green wooly cap, and clothes that seemed to have been made out of everyday items that had been repurposed for battle. The man walked up to him and, as he did so, Adrian noticed the Lambda symbol on his arm. He heaved a sigh of relief, for he knew that the Lambda symbol was the symbol of the Resistance. _At least I haven't been captured by the combine._ "Are you feeling any better, Shepherd?" asked the man. Adrian looked at him quizzically. "How do you know my name?" The man smiled. "I just read the badge on your uniform. Man, I never thought I'd find an American soldier here. I thought you would be up with the rest of them."

Adrian's head swam with questions, but he picked the one that was most appropriate. "What do you mean, "Them"?" The man looked a little shocked. "Don't tell me you don't know! I mean the American soldiers up in New York. They are still strong enough to resist the combine." Adrian was amazed. He thought that the entire planet had been defeated. This was obviously not the case. "Do you know if any of my friends on the train survived?" The man's face looked grim. "They survived, but they are in pretty bad shape, worse than you if you want to visit them, feel free to do so." Adrian nodded.

"I will go see them as soon as I am well enough to move around. In the meantime, what should I do?" "My advice is just rest up and get better. You don't need to worry about being found here. No combine have ever found this place. I'll send someone in to see to you soon." With that, he turned and walked out of the room. Adrian laid there in silence. A few minutes later, a woman came in and deposited a tray of food on the table next to the bed. "There is some medicine in the food." she said. "After about half an hour, you should feel well enough to move around." 30 minutes later, Adrian got out of bed and strolled to the door. The door opened to a thin hallway with pictures of former presidents. At the end of the hallway there was what looked like a blast door. The door opened as soon as he got close, revealing an amazing sight.

He was inside the library of congress. He moved through the books with awe. He had assumed that after the combine invasion the library had been destroyed. But now he realized that the combine were still unable to completely subjugate their citizens. After awhile, he found a rebel who directed him out to the eastern section of the library. There, he found Jack and Lydia in sickbeds on the floor. As soon as Jack saw Adrian, his eyes grew wide and his mouth moved, but no sound came out. Eventually he managed to say, "Adrian… you are alive!"

Lydia was more eloquent. "Ah, Corporal Shepherd. I am pleased to see that you are relatively unharmed. I cannot, however, say the same for myself as you can see." Adrian agreed. Her arm was in a sling and there were bandages around her head. Her leg was cocooned in a cast. By this point, Jack had gotten his voice back and was talking rapidly. "Have you seen how many books there are? It's amazing! I was pretty sure the library was destroyed during the 7 hour war. This is amazing!" Lydia, however, was looking at the library in a different light. "Once we have fully recovered, we should search for any ways into the Washington Monument other than the front door. If we can find one, then we just might have a chance of pulling this whole thing off."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Secret Path Revealed

A few days later, Jack and Lydia were well enough to get up and move about. "A few days ago, you said we should look for ways into the Washington Monument. Why?" asked Adrian. "Because," replied Lydia, "The combine had used the monument as a gateway to the citadel, which is only accessible through teleportation. The monument houses a teleportation device that can bring us to the citadel." Adrian was amazed. "Had used?" he asked. Lydia nodded. "After they had time to fully situate themselves, they installed a larger and more powerful teleportation device in the capitol. The one in the Washington monument has not been used for several months. If it's still active, we might be able to use it to reach the citadel." "Right! Well, no point standing around doing nothing." said Jack, his face giving only a hint of the excitement that he must have felt. "Let's get to work on these books!" They toiled away for hours, searching every corner of the library for a hint into an entrance to the monument. At last, after many hours of searching, Adrian came upon a book that hinted at the existence of a service tunnel running from the library into the basement of the Monument. "What do you think?" Adrian asked Lydia. She eyed the book closely. "This….. just might work. However, if the combine have discovered it, they will have most likely barricaded it or destroyed it. You up for this?" Jack looked thrilled. "Hell yeah I am! It looks secret, right? The combine won't even notice us as we seek under their noses!" Jack was excited, but Adrian had a troubled look on his face. "Even if we make it," he said slowly, "What are the chances of us getting to the core?" Lydia seemed to share his concern. "Not very good. There are probably hundreds of soldiers stationed in the citadel right now. We'll have to be careful. If they catch us, death will be the least of our worries." They took their leave of the rebels the next morning. They seemed sorry to see them go, but were adamant in the fact that they must bring down the citadel. "If you guys can bring down the citadel, we will be able to drive the combine out of the city." said the resistance commander. Adrian assured them that they would bring it down or die trying. "Ah, well that's good to hear. Good luck!" They descended into the basement of the library and, a short time later, located the secret passage. The passage was dark and musty. Luckily, they had their suits' night vision to aid them. When they finally reached the other end, they found that the passage had been barricaded with a large amount of barrels containing some kind of explosives. "Well, what do we do now?" asked Jack. Adrian paused to think. "It seems our only way forward would be to blow up the barrels. But if we do that…." Lydia voiced his concerns. "In addition to alerting the combine, it could bring the whole tunnel crashing down on us." Jack looked worried. "Maybe we could move them?" he hazarded. Adrian looked at all the barrels. "They're too volatile to move. They probably have nitroglycerin in them. We don't want to take the chance of having them explode while we are carrying them." Jack's worried expression grew more pronounced. "Well then," said Lydia, "We may as well take the chance. Adrian, do you have a satchel charge?" Adrian nodded. "Good. Set it up by the base of the foremost barrels." Adrian did as he was told. As soon as he had laid the charge, they retreated to inside a break room. "Alright." Lydia said, anticipation tingeing her voice. "Let's do this." Adrian nodded and pushed the detonation button. A massive explosion occurred, sending shockwaves out across the tunnel. Cracks began to appear by the dozens in the roof and walls. "This place is coming down!" yelled Jack. "Run!" shouted Adrian. They sprinted towards the tunnel exit that had previously been blocked. They made it just in time, as the tunnel, with a final rumble, caved in behind them. They stood panting, shocked by the fact that they had made it out alive. "Well, we aren't coming back this way." said Jack. Suddenly, 5 combine appeared on the stairwell and opened fire. Adrian and Lydia darted behind some fallen rubble, whereas Jack dashed into an adjoining room. The Combine threw a grenade in after jack, which exploded after a few seconds. Quickly, Adrian and Lydia dispatched the combine and went to check on Jack. They found him lying on the floor, dazed but otherwise appearing sound. "You ok?" asked Adrian. Jack shook himself. "Yeah, I think so. Damn Combine! Could've brought the whole room down." Lydia looked rather cheerless. "The Combine don't care how many of their own die. As long as they complete their mission, they will throw hundreds of lives away." Lydia was troubled but Adrian was more jubilant. "Well, we made it." he said. "Now lets get ready and move out!"


End file.
